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Pak. J. Bot., 46(4): 1437-1444, 2014.

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REPRODUCTIVE FITNESS OF OUTCROSSED HYBRIDS BETWEEN TRANSGENIC BROCCOLI (BRASSICA OLERACEA) CARRYING THE IPT TRANSGENE AND CONVENTIONAL VARIETIES OF KALE, BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER

POYU TING¹, YUANKAI TU², CHIENYIH LIN³, HSIANG CHANG^4*, LONGFANGO CHEN⁵ AND LITFU CHAN^6*

Abstract: Pollens are potential carriers for genetically modified crops to transfer genetic materials horizontally to other plants. For phanerogams, pollen viability and cross-compatibility are critical factors for successful outcross hybridization. To evaluate this possibility, this project investigated pollen viability and pod setting rate by comparing broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica Planck) and broccoli transformed with the isopentenyl transferase (ipt) gene. Both served as pollen donors and four other varieties as pollen receptors to determine outcross rates. For pollen viability, F₁ progeny was higher (p≤0.05) for the cross of transgenic ipt broccoli with Li Syue significantly by FDA (fluorescein diacetate) assay. Higher successful hybrids were observed for transgenic ipt broccoli with Fu Yue, Li Syue and Green King. As pollen properties, number and grain diameter were significantly larger (p≤0.05) in hybrid combinations of transgenic ipt broccoli with Li Syue and Green King significantly (p≤0.05). The pod setting rates were higher while transgenic ipt broccoli served as donor plant. These results analyzing pollen properties between transgenic crops with possible outcross candidates would serve as one of those critical strategies for evaluating environmental biosafety issues for transgenic crops.

¹Graduate Institute of Biochemical Sciences and Technology, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung 41349, Taiwan

²Biotechnology Division, Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, Taichung 41362, Taiwan

³College of Health Sciences, Asia University, Taichung 41354, Taiwan

⁴Department of Biotechnology, Yuanpei University, Hsinchu 30015, Taiwan

⁵Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan

⁶Technical Service Division, Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, Taichung 41362, Taiwan

^*Corresponding author’s mails: leevchan@tari.gov.tw; Tel: 886-4-23317453; Fax: 886- 4-23325176; hchang@mail.ypu.edu.tw;Tel: 886-3-538-1183; Fax: 886-3-2312